


My Heart

by LegolasLovely



Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, During The Hobbit, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Love Confessions, Violence, Yes that barrel scene, fili - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-18
Updated: 2019-10-18
Packaged: 2020-12-22 20:28:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21082607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LegolasLovely/pseuds/LegolasLovely
Summary: When barrel riding doesn’t go well for (Y/N), a human member of Thorin’s company, Fili saves her





	My Heart

**Author's Note:**

> Here’s me rewriting the barrel scene lol to add some Protective!Fili, everyone’s fine, Kili doesn’t get shot with the arrow, just HAPPINESS AND LOVE CONFESSIONS YAY HAPPY FILI FRIDAY FRIENDS  
{Warnings: Fluff, angst, violence against orcs}

You plopped down on the hard ground of the elven cell and tried to ignore the weird stench and horrific music that was falling from the halls above. You sighed and let your head fall back against the wall.

“(Y/N)?” You heard Fili’s voice. He must have been on the other side of the wall, in the cell just next to yours.

“Yeah?” You asked.

“You okay?”

“Pissed that we’re stuck in here, but yeah, I’m okay. You?”

“I’m fine. We’ll get out of here,” he said. You gave no answer but the tension in the air between you lifted. It was nice having one of the company right there even though you couldn’t see him.

“Get some rest!” Thorin called. “We’ll have to be sharp if we want to figure out a way out of here.”

You ignored the grumbling that continued and actually tried to obey his orders. After the past few days of excitement, you didn’t find it too difficult to nod off, but soon, the sound of cheers and soft clinking woke you up.

“Bilbo!” “It’s Bilbo!” “He’s got the keys!”

“Hush!” Bilbo said. “There are guards near!”

You rushed to your feet, grabbing hold of the bars of your cell and trying to crane your neck out to see if it was true. Bilbo was running down the slope, quickly freeing every one of the dwarfs. He was almost to you.

“Told ya we’d get out,” Fili said.

You looked to your left and saw him grinning at you through the bars of his own cell. The hobbit unlocked his door and Fili followed him closely to yours. Once the door was open, Fili’s hand was on your arm, pulling you out and guiding you down the slope.

“No thanks to you,” you joked to him.

You heard him huff.

The company followed Bilbo through the undermost corridors of Mirkwood. As usual, you were wedged between Fili and Kili. The younger of the two led the way and Fili was behind you as you stepped into a new room. This was the cellar of Mirkwood where the guards gathered and apparently blacked out from drinking too much imported wine. You smirked at the two guards bent over a table, sleeping deeply. Kili turned to you with a smile. _This was perfect! These idiot elves were practically begging us to escape!_

Then one snored and Fili grabbed you, pulling your back to his chest. He’d startled you and sent your heart into overdrive, beating ferociously. You turned to him with wide eyes. _He almost woke them! _you thought. You unwrapped his arm but kept a grip on his wrist as you toed right past the sleeping elves.

One by one, the company followed and soon all were standing in a huddle on the other side of the large room. Everyone looked to Bilbo for direction. Then Dwalin sputtered, throwing his hand out like he was about to strangle the hobbit.

“Where’ve you taken us! We’re worse off than before!”

Bilbo motioned to the barrels. “Get in.”

Your eyes blew wide. _He wants us to **what?**_

“We’ll be bruised and battered to pieces!” Balin whispered.

“And surely drowned,” Ori said, shaking.

_And frozen,_ you thought, but you didn’t dare speak it.

Bilbo was exasperated. After all his hard work and planning, he couldn’t allow the dwarfs to ruin his plans by waking the guards that dozed just feet away. “You just have to trust me.”

All heads turned to Thorin at the back of the group. “Do as he says,” he growled.

You squatted on the ground and backed your legs into the large barrel. You fit entirely, with room to spare, but you didn’t think this was the best hiding spot in all of Mirkwood. The barrels didn’t even have tops. The elves would see the company immediately and then they’d be right back in the cells where they started. Or worse.

You popped your head out of the barrel and looked to Fili above you. “Are we really just gonna hide in here and hope they don’t see us?”

Before he could answer, Bilbo said, “No, (Y/N). Not exactly.”

He pulled some kind of lever and then you were rolling. It took all your self-control not to scream in fright when the floor tilted backwards and you saw the rushing water of the river below you. You shut your eyes tight and held onto the edge of the barrel as you rolled and started to free fall. When you landed, the freezing water took your breath and stabbed at your limbs. Then you were bobbing and floating and you wiped your eyes. You groaned at the cold.

The dwarfs around you cheered. In your spinning barrel, you could hardly see the floor of the cellar return to its rightful place. You heard Thorin cry out with laughter and victory. Then your barrel stopped spinning, thanks to Fili’s strong hand.

“We did it, (Y/N). We beat the elves at their own game.”

You finally allowed yourself to feel relief. You grinned, looking forward to the river ahead. It seemed rather steady and the fear of falling out of the barrel fizzled out of your mind. “Maybe we can just ride to the mountain?” you said, listening to Fili laugh at you.

“No! No, the damn gate!” You heard Thorin yell at the front of the pack. His barrel careened into a checkered, unmovable metal fence that blocked the dwarfs from their freedom of the Mirkwood kingdom. The rushing river pushed all the barrels together and you heard the shouts of orders from the elven guards. They’d found you.

A dozen elven guards floated down the banks of the river, quickly gaining ground. It would only be a few moments before they had the company surrounded. You followed their beady eyes up and over your head, and you found what you hoped to be the lever to open the gate.

“That can’t be what I think it is,” you mumbled to yourself.

“What?” Fili asked.

“Up there. They wouldn’t be stupid enough to put the gate lever in plain sight, would they?”

“Well, they are elves,” Kili said.

Fili’s hand landed on your shoulder. “(Y/N) you’re a genius. Those keen eyes of yours have saved us again. Kili, get up there. Quick, before the elves are upon us.”

You helped Fili pull his brother up and out of his barrel. He stood on its wobbly mouth and leapt to the next and the next until his feet landed on the solid rock of the river bank. You craned your neck to watch him run above your head and saw a black arrow fly through the air, narrowly missing his leg. You whipped around to see that the incoming elves were a small inconvenience compared to the pack of orcs emerging from the wood.

“Kili! Orcs!” you cried. You watched helplessly as another arrow headed straight for him, but was shot out of the air by a crossing one. The red haired she-elf from the dungeons had saved Kili from a poisoned orc arrow, but she was too far away to help him fend off the group of orcs that had descended on him.

You hopped out of your barrel, standing on the edge of yours and Fili’s. He yanked on your hand, almost sending you overboard.

“What are you doing? Get down here, now.”

You ripped your hand from his grasp, but bent to him. “You’re the only one strong enough to keep these barrels in place when the gate opens. I’ll be right back.” You had to get that gate open while Kili fought off the orcs. He couldn’t do both.

“You’ll do no such thing,” Fili said.

Your frustration snapped as you swatted his hands from you. “Stop babying me!”

“You are a baby! You’re twenty years old!”

“And you’re eighty-two. Are we really going to have this conversation right now? Kili needs help. Let me go.” You didn’t wait for his answer, but leapt to the bank, slipping on the wet rock and catching yourself but scraping your hands.

You ran up to where Kili was fending for himself, picking up an axe from a slain orc on the way. You squeezed, and ducked, and swung your stolen weapon, decapitating an enemy on your way to the gate. It took a jolt of all your body weight to move the lever, but finally, you felt it release and heard cries from the dwarfs of your success. “Kili!” you cried. “Fall back! Into the barrels!” You tossed the axe to Dwalin as he floated by so someone in the front of the group would have a weapon. It wasn’t your smartest move.

With Kili falling into his barrel and a dozen orcs turning on you, you now had no weapon to protect yourself. It was impossible to speed back down the slope of the bank the way you’d come- you’d be attacked for sure. You had to jump down to your barrel from far above and you winced at the thought. It was a long way down and suddenly the mouth of the barrel seemed very tiny.

“You have to jump, (Y/N)!” Fili yelled to you. “I’ve got you!”

Orcs were closing in on you from every side. You cursed yourself, took a step to the left to line yourself up with your barrel, and leapt from the height. You crashed down, half in Fili’s arms and half into the barrel, slamming your elbow on the lip of it.

“You’re an idiot,” Fili said.

“I know.”

Then the current swept the barrels downstream. On either side of you, orcs were growling, snapping, and hurling weapons at you. Luckily, they were also falling to their deaths thanks to the elves. _Are they actually helping us?_

“(Y/N)! Get down!” you heard Fili call and you instantly obeyed. You disappeared deep into your barrel, hearing the thump of an axe digging into the wood beside your head. The gravity of your avoidance forced your barrel bowling into a sharp jetty in the river, leaving you to tumble out of your safe, 360 degree shield. Again the freezing winter water washed over you and pulled you down into the tide. You were an open target to the orcs, the elves and the waves themselves.

After what felt like minutes underwater, you finally pulled your head above the waves, gasping for air and coughing. Your lungs felt like they were on fire and in the back of your mind, you knew you should be watching out for flying arrows but you could barely open your eyes as you bobbed up and mostly down in the water. Then, strong hands lifted you up.

“Come, kurduwê. You’re all right.”

You grabbed onto the lip of Fili’s barrel, opening your eyes to see his worried face. You’d never been so happy to him and you coughed on him to thank him. When your eyes finally freed themselves of water and focused, you saw an arrow flying toward Fili from over his shoulder. You yanked on him, pulling him down to you and listened to the arrow wiz by and splash into the current.

Fili spun and you both watched as the offending orc was taken down by an elf. You were safe for the moment. He lifted you above him and set you next to him in his barrel. “In here, now. You’re all right? Not hit?”

You steadied yourself on his arms, gripping his soaked tunic. “I’m okay, I’m okay.”

“Good because we have more fighting to do and no weapons to do it with,” he said with a hint of a smile on his lips.

You shook your head, knowing he secretly loved challenges like these. Then a poisoned dagger dug itself into the side of the barrel you shared. You tugged it out and held it up. “You just have to know where to find them,” you said with a wink. You turned and launched it, hitting a tall ugly orc straight in the eye.

Ahead, you heard the dwarfs calling each other’s names and tossing an axe down the line, all taking turns hitting an arching tree to split it.

“Fili!” Dwalin yelled, sending it back to him.

Fili reached back and swung it over his head, sending the final blow to the tree and sending half a dozen orcs to drown in the rough waters. The current had only grown stronger as the company flowed downstream. It was recklessly spinning the barrels and sending them speeding into the banks and wharfs. Though the orc pack thinned and eventually disappeared completely, there was new danger in the rapids. You flew into a tall rock and heard the wood of the barrel crack. You held onto Fili with fresh fear.

He pushed you in front of him, holding onto your waist tight and you were thankful for the grounding feeling. If you hadn’t fallen out of your barrel at the beginning of the ride, you were sure you would have by now if it weren’t for Fili’s strong grip. You careened and spun down the white waves until it finally evened out and the company was able to beach themselves on the bank.

You crawled out of your barrel, throwing your sopping hair over your shoulder and pulling your tunic away from your skin. Your limbs were heavy and impossibly tired, but you knew you’d have to keep moving to keep the distance between the group and the orcs. While you had the chance, you rung out your clothes and sat on the stiff ground as you listened to Thorin, Dwalin and Balin argue about the next course of action.

“You’re shivering.”

Your heavy eyelids lifted to Fili and you smiled. “I know I’m shivering Fili, I’m the one doing it. I don’t usually go for swims in the middle of winter.” You chuckled dryly.

“Stand up. I know you’re tired but you have to keep your blood flowing or you’ll freeze.”

“That’s hopeful,” you said, not moving.

“Come, now,” he said reaching for your hands.

You swatted him away. “Fine. I’m fine, just-just let me be.” You stood, closing your arms around yourself and feeling your freezing skin.

“And your hands are bleeding. Is this from when you fell?” He turned your palm up and rolled his finger over your cuts.

“Yes, but I’m _fine._ It’s nothing.”

“It’s not nothing-”

“Fili!” You side stepped away from him and wrapped your hand with a cloth you ripped from your tunic. Your argument started to draw attention from the company. “Will you please stop babying me! I don’t need it. I was chosen to go on this quest, same as you. I can handle myself and if I can’t I will ask you for help.” You stopped him from speaking. “Don’t even start with the age thing! Twenty years of human life is practically equal to eighty years of a dwarf’s. We’re the same. I don’t need your constant attention.”

“Well, you have it.” He laughed.

“I don’t want it! You don’t have to take care of me all the time.”

“(Y/N), I have to protect you.”

“_Why_?”

“We-we protect each other. We’re a company.”

“You don’t treat me like the rest of the company! You treat me like I’m less. Like I can’t handle myself or I’m in over my head or something.”

“That’s not true,” he said.

“It is! You almost didn’t allow me to help your brother today! Why is that? You don’t trust me?”

“Yes, I do-”

“Then why?”

“Because I love you!” he said.

You froze.

“Stop,” Thorin said, coming between you. “Stop this arguing right now.” Then he turned to the company. “We need to keep moving or the orcs will catch up with us. Balin, speak to that human. Say whatever you need to. Get us on that boat.”

You started to speak, but Thorin’s glare stopped you. Fili didn’t move from your side as you listened to Balin speak to the other human, but he wouldn’t look at you. He didn’t even twitch. It was like he was the one who was frozen. You replayed the events of the day in your head and remembered something. What had he said to you in the river? _What did that word mean?_

You hadn’t paid attention to the conversation going on, but after a few minutes, the company was ushered onto the boat. You whispered Fili’s name, but he either didn’t hear you or ignored you. You hoped it was the former. Balin was busy counting coins and asking for your share.

“Take it, I don’t care,” you said, tossing your small purse on the table near him. Fili was alone at the bow of the boat and you moved to meet him there, when your arm was pulled back.

“(Y/N),” Thorin said lowly, leading you away from the company. “Do not go over there unless you have a firm answer for him. Do not give him hope where there is none.”

At length you nodded. Thorin stepped from you, but you caught him. “Thorin? What does kur-kurduwê mean?”

Thorin sighed and allowed his countenance to soften. “My heart.”

He left you alone by the mast as the boat shoved off and headed downstream. Fili had only been from your side for a handful of minutes, but you already missed him- his warmth, his comfort, and his sense of calm. You missed his smile and his hands and his soft laugh. Things made more sense now that he had told you of his feelings. Every drop of anger dissipated from your chest and was replaced by heavy guilt. You needed him.

You padded over to the bow of the boat, catching yourself on the edge when it had turned without warning. You stood next to him, but he didn’t look to you. “Fi?”

He hummed softly.

“I want to apologize to you. For snapping at you. You’ve been nothing but good to me, you saved my life today and I yelled at you for it. I’m sorry.”

His jaw clenched. “I’m sorry I made you feel inadequate. That was not my intention.”

“I know.” The boat was expertly winding through trees and islands in the quiet water. It turned quickly and you stumbled into Fili’s side. He caught you and placed you safely on your feet. “I didn’t mean what I said, Fili. About…”

“I know you didn’t.”

“Did you mean what you said?” you asked.

He finally looked at you. “Yes,” he breathed, like he couldn’t believe you’d asked the question.

You reached for his freezing tunic around his waist. “I don’t want you to treat me like a child.” You paused as he scoffed. “And I never want you to put yourself in danger because of me- to protect me from something. I can handle myself.” You looked up at him and couldn’t help but smile when you saw his eyes already studying you. “But I do want your attention. And your care. Your friendship and-and your love. I treasure those things.”

His fingers took your chin and his thumb ran over your skin. He bent to kiss you gently. When he drew away, you smiled, reveling in his shining blue eyes.

“How did you say that word?” you asked.

“Which one?”

“Kur-kurduwê.”

He chuckled at your attempt and corrected you, rolling the back of his fingers down your cheek. “Kurduwê.”

You rested your head on his shoulder. “My heart.”

He hummed, running his fingers through your wet hair, gently untangling the ends. “Look, (Y/N).”

You followed his gaze and saw a strong peak thrusting up into the clouded sky. “Is that it?”

“The Lonely Mountain.”

“We’re almost there, Prince.”

He chuckled and hummed, kissing your head and listening to the excited cries of the company. He’d reclaim the mountain for his family and learn to lead it for his people with you by his side.


End file.
